Ice Could Cause Road and Power Problems

Ice Could Cause Road and Power Problems

Kentucky Utilities said it has a close on the sky because sleet and ice are much more of an issue than heavy snow.

Once again The Blue Grass is gearing up for another winter storm.

Kentucky Utilities said it has a close on the sky because sleet and ice are much more of an issue than heavy snow.

It says icicles on power lines aren't much of an issue. KU says even the lines themselves can take a fairly thick layer of ice before sagging and even then the lines should be ok.

It is tree branches above power lines that are the biggest concern for KU even though it said it's been aggressive in clearing trees from around power lines since the ice storm in 2003.

“When there's a certain level of weight that hits those tree limbs and they finally decide to give it up invariably what they do is fall into lines below and that's when we have issues with power lines down and outages,” said Cliff Feltham, Kentucky Utilities spokesmen.

Feltham said the easiest thing to do if the power goes out is to bundle up.

He said to never bring in heating devices that don’t have exhaust to the outside, like grills and to use space heaters properly.

Feltham said generators can be tricky if you aren’t sure how to use them. He adds if they are improperly hooked up, generators can re-energize dead lines KU crews are working on.

Fortunately it isn’t expected to be as cold as about two weeks ago but KU recommends keeping an eye out the window.

“Look at the tree limbs above the lines coming into your house, if those are beginning to collect ice and they're beginning to sag then I won't say we're getting close to having outages but that's kind of how we measure things too,” said Feltham.

Road crews said they will be out trying to get the roads as clean as possible before the next wave of winter weather.

They said they are focusing on bus routes and main roads that are still slick.

They also said there is such a thing as pretreating the roads too much. They compared it to taking too many vitamins and said it is a waste of money.